Lozère was created in 1790 during the French Revolution, when the whole of France was divided into departments, replacing the old provinces. Lozère was formed with part of the old province of Languedoc. Les Sources and Hautes-Cèvennes were two other names proposed for this department but they were not accepted. Pliny's Natural History praised the cheese of Lozère: During the period 1764-67, the Beast of Gévaudan, a creature believed to be a wolf, terrorized the general area in the Margeride Mountains of the former province of Gévaudan.
Geography
Lozère has an area of. It is the northernmost department of the current Occitanie region and is surrounded by 5 departments belonging to 2 regions: Cantal, Haute-Loire and Ardèche departments of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, and Gard and Aveyron departments of the Occitanie region. The geography of Lozère is complicated, covering four mountain ranges. In the north-west, the basalt plateau of Aubrac rises between, with a cold humid climate influenced by the Atlantic. The north and north-east of the department contains the Margeride mountains, which are formed of granite, and have peaks between. The climate here is also cold, but drier than in Aubrac, with less snow. The Causses are a series of very dry limestone plateaus in the south-west, and the south-east contains the Cévennes, which include the highest point in the department, the granite Mont Lozère at. The department also contains numerous rivers, above and below ground, including the Tarn, whose source is on Mont Lozère, and which flows through the Gorges du Tarn in the Causses.
The main activities are cattle farming and tourism. There is barely any agricultural farming in Lozère due to poor soil quality. The hardy Aubrac is the most commonly farmed cattle breed here. The region has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in France, which may be attributed to the enforced long-standing tradition whereby young people emigrate to cities such as Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier when they reach working age.
Land use
Lozère is a rural department, with relatively little land taken up by roads and buildings. Overall the land use is divided as follows:
Population development since 1801:Lozère is the least populated French department. It has a population, in 2016, of 76,422, for a population density of inhabitants/km2. The arrondissement of Mende, with 63,613 inhabitants, is by far the largest. The other arrondissement, Florac, has 13,276 inhabitants. The only important town is Mende with 11,908 people living there in 2012. Other cities are Marvejols and Saint-Chély-d'Apcher. The inhabitants of Lozère are known, in French, as Lozériens.
Tourism
Tourist activities include caving and a variety of sports, such as skiing and kayaking. Lozère contains a part of the Cévennes National Park. Lozère is considered one of the best areas in France for trout fishing. Rivers such as the Lot, Tarn and Truyère are particularly noted for their trout populations.
